The reason I commented on your post was to clarify your statement that LS has only 4 returning starters next year. That was incorrect. I did not comment on the quality of the returners, just naming who the players are that are returning.

However, since you brought it up, I will offer my comments. Griffin Merritt is the top returning QB in the GCL. Josh Whylie is being recruited Div 1 and is a 6'7" 205/210 lb TE with WR speed. Cam Porter, as a freshman this year, started at RB alongside Christian Turner. Uran, Bledsoe and Ingle, all sophomores LB's this year, also started as freshmen. One reason you did not see "these type of players" in the JV or freshmen games is that these players have been up on varsity.

Do I think LS will be as good as past years, I don't know, but I am optimistic. I do like how you throw around the word "scholarship player" when talking about a few of the past athletes at LS. That's kind of ironic as St X offers more financial aid to their students than any other GCL school.

I'll take Chase Wolf over Merritt.
With Whyle the only returning receiver, an inexperienced OLine and without a Larkin, Jarrell-White, Turner or Smith to carry the ball the offense likely wont stack up to those of the past 3 years

Maybe Porter, who appears to be the last of the scholarship players, will develop.
StX financial aid doesn't target this population group.

Do you think the dismissal of principal Luebbe and the rumor of financial distress is related to the sharp decrease in scholarship players?

I'll take Chase Wolf over Merritt.
With Whyle the only returning receiver, an inexperienced OLine and without a Larkin, Jarrell-White, Turner or Smith to carry the ball the offense likely wont stack up to those of the past 3 years

Maybe Porter, who appears to be the last of the scholarship players, will develop.
StX financial aid doesn't target this population group.

Do you think the dismissal of principal Luebbe and the rumor of financial distress is related to the sharp decrease in scholarship players?

If Mcbride at Moeller continues to develop, then their will be a pretty substantial amount of QB talent throughout the league.

I'll take Chase Wolf over Merritt.
With Whyle the only returning receiver, an inexperienced OLine and without a Larkin, Jarrell-White, Turner or Smith to carry the ball the offense likely wont stack up to those of the past 3 years

Maybe Porter, who appears to be the last of the scholarship players, will develop.
StX financial aid doesn't target this population group.

Do you think the dismissal of principal Luebbe and the rumor of financial distress is related to the sharp decrease in scholarship players?

Why do you assume that Porter is a scholarship player, his dad is the freshman football coach

Do you think we have enough returning talent to repeat? We are the only GCL-S team who has not won back-back titles. Elder, Moeller and LaSalle each have a repeat, some a 3-peat.

This team will go as far as Chase Wolf can take them. They have some talent out side of him still... I think Bacevich and Bobby could be good. Child's will have a good year. Specht is okay. Oline is weak, but their coaching will work ways to get the ball out in space to cover that issue up. They'll be fine.

3 Challenges to Repeat
ReLoad the punter/placekicker (Glaser/Rockwood)
ReLoad the defensive secondary
ReLoad the offensive line

ReLoad, ReLoad and ReLoad

Agree with all three and I would add LB corp as only one returning starter and RB.

QB, Dline and WR will all be areas of strength. St X seems to find very capable linebackers each year so I will assume they will fill that need.

I think the biggest challenge will be at oline. I believe St X returns three starters at oline (maybe 2?) but the oline was not a strength last year. The JV oline also struggled last year so I think this is the biggest ? mark.

RB is also a question mark in part because of the struggles the offensive line had last year. I don't think St X has a powerful RB that can get yards on their own, so RB will hinge in part on how the oline comes together.

Every year obviously has question marks as you are always replacing starters. St X fans can count very solid coaching, the development of players and a group that gives max effort and works well together. When you have that you are always going to have a chance.

Wolf and Clifford are D1 QBs of a different animal. Clifford was a run first throw second guy with exceptional speed, moves and ball fakes. Wolf is the quintessential pocket passer who throws first and runs second. Wolf has deceptive speed and will make a would be tackler miss. Per the receiving corps Wolf's long ball is a lot softer and easier to catch.

An improved running game will open up an already potent passing game. A dozen big bodies are available to join Deters, Mohn and Dirksing on the OLine. I look for sophomore Tucker Hundley to be the primary ball carrier. Per the coaching staff he is ahead of older brother Connor at this stage who rushed for over 1,000 yards his sophomore year at 5'9 180lb. Tucker will be slightly bigger and faster/quicker and shares big bro's toughness

The receiving corps will be even better. Specht, Kreimer, Wittrock, Fox and Shamsi will have a year of varsity experience. Three juniors (Stockman, McIntyre and Gerbus) provide depth. If Coach wants to bring back the TE position then Lange, Taul and Grause are available. If not I could see Lange as a big WR along with Rueve.

Wolf and Clifford are D1 QBs of a different animal. Clifford was a run first throw second guy with exceptional speed, moves and ball fakes. Wolf is the quintessential pocket passer who throws first and runs second. Wolf has deceptive speed and will make a would be tackler miss. Per the receiving corps Wolf's long ball is a lot softer and easier to catch.

An improved running game will open up an already potent passing game. A dozen big bodies are available to join Deters, Mohn and Dirksing on the OLine. I look for sophomore Tucker Hundley to be the primary ball carrier. Per the coaching staff he is ahead of older brother Connor at this stage who rushed for over 1,000 yards his sophomore year at 5'9 180lb. Tucker will be slightly bigger and faster/quicker and shares big bro's toughness

The receiving corps will be even better. Specht, Kreimer, Wittrock, Fox and Shamsi will have a year of varsity experience. Three juniors (Stockman, McIntyre and Gerbus) provide depth. If Coach wants to bring back the TE position then Lange, Taul and Grause are available. If not I could see Lange as a big WR along with Rueve.

I agree with your comments about the receivers, I think that will be a very strong group. Good to hear the comments from the receivers about Wolf's passes.

The oline may have a lot of big bodies but they still need to know how to block. I saw a couple of JV games last year and the offensive line struggled. The Hundley kid looked good in spite of the lack of holes. If the oline comes together than I think this will be a very explosive offense.

Last season, with a glut of talent at the offensive skill positions, the coaching staff successfully moved 3 players (Buerkle, Rumpke and Paul) to the defensive secondary.
Faced with the same situation this coming season will the staff make similar moves?
14 offensive skill players (WR, RB, TE) played varsity or JV last season: Specht, Kreimer, Wittrock, Shamsi, Rueve, Fox, McIntyre, Gerbus, Stockman, Taul, Lange, Payne, Hundley and Newman.

Lets not call the O-line weak just yet....Junior/Mohn, Senior/Deters and Senior/Dirksing all return with significant experience. Sophomore/Kirby coming off knee injury has size and saw action in 4 games last year. Senior Kronenberger is 6'4'' and is now bulked up to 260 in the off season. Provided they stay healthy this group can play! They just need to execute.

Post #41 in this thread......
Like last year the Defensive Secondary is the hardest hit by graduation.
The top 10 candidates to fill the 5 secondary positions by class
Seniors: Johnny Marrocco, Kam Baxter, Chad Adair, Grant Kirby, Ty Sandifer and Max Tongdangjou
Juniors: Raja Bridges, Gary Johnson, Sam Glines and Ben Ferguson

I'm guessing that's Ben younger brother. Is he nearly as good as an athlete and as big as him is what I'm wondering. I've seen Adair, Kirby, and Baxter all play on the JV level, and they looked like players who could play real well on varsity, so that could possibly clear up the safety and adjuster spots. Only big concern is just corner where you gotta replace two studs in Paul and Stallworth.

Lets not call the O-line weak just yet....Junior/Mohn, Senior/Deters and Senior/Dirksing all return with significant experience. Sophomore/Kirby coming off knee injury has size and saw action in 4 games last year. Senior Kronenberger is 6'4'' and is now bulked up to 260 in the off season. Provided they stay healthy this group can play! They just need to execute.

Last year the varsity offensive line struggled, especially with run blocking. The JV offensive line also struggled in all aspects. I am not calling the offensive line weak, I do think it is the single biggest question mark. Quinn Earley average one yard less rushing last season compared to his junior season. That was due in large part to the struggles of the offensive line.

The good news is that Mohn and Dirksing both have a year under their belt which should make a big difference.

Agree with all three and I would add LB corp as only one returning starter and RB.

QB, Dline and WR will all be areas of strength. St X seems to find very capable linebackers each year so I will assume they will fill that need.

A front 6 of Jefferson-Mesue-Bacevich-Childs-Kiessling-Arthur would be stellar.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GCLFan99

RB is also a question mark in part because of the struggles the offensive line had last year. I don't think St X has a powerful RB that can get yards on their own, so RB will hinge in part on how the oline comes together.

Last season as a freshman on JV, Tucker Hundley was listed at 5'10" 175lb, about the same size as brother Conor when he played varsity as a sophomore.

Lets not call the O-line weak just yet....Junior/Mohn, Senior/Deters and Senior/Dirksing all return with significant experience. Sophomore/Kirby coming off knee injury has size and saw action in 4 games last year. Senior Kronenberger is 6'4'' and is now bulked up to 260 in the off season. Provided they stay healthy this group can play! They just need to execute.

Kronenberger saw varsity action vs. Indy Cathedral when Kurz went out with a knee. At 6'4" 220lb he looked quite lean. Great to hear he has beefed up to 260lb. Both starting tackles last season (Kurz and Heimkreiter) were listed as 6'4" 265lb so he is right on target

With Mohn and Deters the guard positions are in good hands.

Will be interesting to see how the staff uses Dirksing in his senior year.
He is the consummate warrior.
Watching him battle with DLinemen 100lbs heavier in the Bosco game was impressive.
Assuming Kronenberger and one of the other big bodies (Kirby, Tuerck, Kanitz, Hoffman, Nurre) occupy the tackle positions does Dirksing move to center?
Or do they use him as a tight end (he has good hands) or a blocking back?

I'm guessing that's Ben younger brother. Is he nearly as good as an athlete and as big as him is what I'm wondering. I've seen Adair, Kirby, and Baxter all play on the JV level, and they looked like players who could play real well on varsity, so that could possibly clear up the safety and adjuster spots. Only big concern is just corner where you gotta replace two studs in Paul and Stallworth.

Yes, Sam is Ben's brother and a decent athlete
Ben was a freak athlete who could play defense or offense and thus a rare 3 year varsity starter.

Johnny Morrocco had a great game at corner in the Sycamore playoff game when Stallworth couldn't go so he has an inside track for one of the corner positions.
Plenty of other candidates, backups and guys who were on scout team last year as well as wide receivers who could make the switch like Paul did to see the field full time.

Assuming Kronenberger and one of the other big bodies (Kirby, Tuerck, Kanitz, Hoffman, Nurre) occupy the tackle positions does Dirksing move to center?
Or do they use him as a tight end (he has good hands) or a blocking back?

Or does Dirksing move back to LB where he played freshman year?
How about this for a front 6?